A senior BBC executive apologised on the station's 6 p.m. news last night for any offence caused by EastEnders' episodes set in Ireland and screened this week.
Ms Jana Bennett, the channel's new director of production, said on BBC1's news bulletin: "It is clear that a significant number of viewers have been upset by the recent episodes of EastEnders, and we are very sorry, because the production team and programme makers did not mean to cause any offence."
Both the Irish Embassy in London and Bord Failte's London office had earlier made their concerns known to the BBC. The final episode of the Irish-based series will be screened tonight on BBC1 at 7.30 p.m.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4 yesterday, the Irish Ambassador to London, Mr Ted Barrington, described the portrayal of Ireland in Monday's and Tuesday's episodes as an "unrepresentative caricature". He said he was worried by the negative stereotypes and the images of drunkenness, backwardness and isolation.
The London Embassy received many calls from both Irish people living in Britain and Irish people at home complaining about the programme following Monday night's episode. There were further protests yesterday.
The BBC received more than 200 protests from viewers, and even RTE, which does not screen the programme, received calls protesting at the image of Ireland, with cows, sheep and donkeys wandering around the streets, with menacing drunks and resentful locals.
In the second of the Irish episodes, an Irish girl, Mary Flaherty, told one of the regular characters, Mark Fowler, that she lived in a "zoo" and that her father was often drunk.